Last week, an article entitled, ‘Radicalisation at universities or radicalisation by universities?’ by University of Nottingham academic Rod Thornton was published, shedding more light on the case of the “Nottingham Two”. This article has now been removed from the website of the British International Studies Association (BISA) allegedly under pressure from the University, who have also now suspended Dr Thornton.

Dr Rod Thornton was suspended on afternoon of May 4th by Nottingham University for exposing how the university caused the arrest of two innocent men as suspected terrorists. The new whistle-blowing report from Dr Thornton – ‘How a student’s use of a library book became a “major Islamist plot”’ – exposed how senior University management reported the men and undertook a subsequent campaign to discredit them for being in possession of three publicly available documents, all available from the university’s own library.

A letter written by Vice-Chancellor David Greenaway, was hand-delivered to Dr Thornton and ordered him to vacate his office. The Vice-Chancellor wrote: "the decision has been taken to suspend you until further notice … [because of a] … breakdown in working relationships with your colleagues caused by your recent article prepared for the British International Studies Association Conference.” Dr Thornton, said: “I am very saddened by the university’s behaviour".

Rizwaan Sabir, one of the men originally arrested, said: "Dr Thornton’s article proves that university management singled me out for differential treatment, despite my innocence. It is apparent that they and certain staff attempted to undermine my future at the university, perhaps because I would have been a constant reminder of their anti-terror cock up! The findings of this research, along with Nottingham’s attempts to censor it, are damning. Such cavalier behaviour should not be tolerated in British academia. I call on the government to launch an independent public inquiry into the conduct of the university."

We write as academics deeply concerned by the suspension of Dr Rod Thornton, a lecturer in counter-terrorism in the school of politics and international relations at the University of Nottingham (Report, 4 May). We understand that Dr Thornton's suspension is the result of a whistle-blowing investigative research paper that was presented at the annual British International Studies Association conference and subsequently published on its website. In his research, Dr Thornton carefully details what appear to be examples of serious misconduct from senior university management over the arrest of two university members (The "Nottingham Two") under the Terrorism Act 2000 in May 2008.

The two men were never charged with a terrorism-related offence, and their arrests were perceived as being indicative of a growing tide of Islamophobia. Dr Thornton's research paper provides apparent confirmation, notably through internal communications obtained via the Freedom of Information and Data Protection Acts, that university management and senior academics colluded to paint the two men in a negative light despite no evidence of wrongdoing. The claims he makes are very serious and should be subjected to a full and proper inquiry: they cannot be ignored.

We call for the immediate reinstatement of Dr Rod Thornton and call on the University of Nottingham to openly and thoroughly examine the claims made in his research. We also request that an independent inquiry be conducted into the university's actions on this matter.

Prof Noam Chomsky MIT

Prof Paul Gilroy LSE

Dr Karma Nabulsi Oxford

Prof Charles Tripp SOAS

Prof Neera Chandhoke University of Delhi

Prof Michael Burawoy University of California, Berkeley

Prof Patrick Bond University of KwaZulu-Natal

Prof David McNally York University (Toronto)

Prof Bill Bowring University of Essex

Prof John Harriss Simon Fraser University (Canada)

Prof Neil Smith City University, New York

Dr Norman Finkelstein

Prof Joyce Canaan Birmingham City University

Prof Richard Keeble University of Lincoln

Prof Scott Lucas University of Birmingham

Prof David Miller University of Strathclyde

Prof Ian Parker Manchester Metropolitan University

Prof Scott Poynting Manchester Metropolitan University

Prof Lucy Suchman University of Lancaster

Dr Bernard Sufrin Oxford (Worcester College)

Dr Laleh Khalili SOAS

Dr Rahul Rao SOAS

Dr Tufyal Choudhury University of Durham

Dr Polly Pallister-Wilkins SOAS

Dr Mark Laffey SOAS

Dr Corinna Mullin SOAS

Dr Arshin Adib-Moghaddam SOAS

Dr Kate Tunstall Oxford (Worcester College)

Dr Alf Nilsen University of Bergen

Dr Sudhir Hazareesingh Oxford (Balliol College)

Dr Eddie Yuen San Francisco Art Institute

Dr Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed University of Sussex

Dr Tim Jacoby University of Manchester

Dr Laurence Cox National University of Ireland

Dr Jairus Banaji SOAS

Dr Ole Johnny Olsen University of Bergen

Dr Bhabani Sshankar Nayak Glasgow Caledonian University

Dr Rupert Read University of East Anglia

Dr Subir Sinha SOAS

Dr Neil Davidson University of Strathclyde

Dr Arun Kundnani London Metropolitan University

Dr Rashmi Varma University of Warwick

Dr Michael Edwards UCL

Dr Timothy Jones University of Glamorgan

Dr Jessie Blackbourn University of Salford

Dr Steve Hurst Manchester Metropolitan University

Dr Steve Hewitt University of Birmingham

Dr Nisha Kapoor Manchester Metropolitan University

Dr Jodie Chapell University of Lancaster

Dr Jack Nye Open University

Dr James Brown University of Cambridge

Dr Nicola Pratt University of Warwick

Dr Carlos Frade University of Salford

Dr Sherifa D Zuhur Strategic Studies Institute, United States Army War College

Dr Alex Dennis University of Salford

Dr William Dinan University of Strathclyde

Dr Piers Robinson University of Manchester

Dr Peter Bratsis University of Salford

Dr Helen Dexter University of Manchester

Dr Peter Waterman International Institute of Social Studies, The Hague